My Own Custom Fender. Check it out!

I plan on working my butt off over the summer, and buying a Deluxe Active Jazz, and adding a Maple neck with Mother of Pearl blocks and cream binding. I also wanna throw a Aguilar OPB-3 in there. Hopefully I can purchase all this at one time and have it sent to someone to install the neck, and wire in the OPB-3 with Active bypass and Passive tone control, and set this bad boy up. That way, I'll have true Fender Active and Passive tones at my fingertips. Very versatile, and absolutely smooth-looking IMO.

What do you guys think?

P.S. I'm trying to find some nice Fender Jazz bass reproduction decals, or someone who can reproduce the American Deluxe Jazz Bass decal for me, as I really like the subtle, classy design of that one. Anyone have any suggestions?

I like it, but I cant see why you'd buy the top of the line jazz bass that'll run you well over $1000 new, and then gut it out. A cheaper alternative would be either to buy the Mexican Deluxe Jazz and upgrade that with all the new hardware and pre-amp etc. or go for a warmoth custom. Its your money though.

That is a Mexican Deluxe Jazz. Nino can't exactly offer what I want, being that Fender Candy Appler Red is my dream color, and Warmoth doesnt offer CAR, or Maple necks with Mother of Pearl Blocks and binding.

I like the bass itself and think it would sound really kick ass but I don't like the look of the logo on the headstock. Personally, I don't like it on the Marcus basses either. Think it looks awful with the offset logo.

Can anyone explain to me how a bass can be wired 3 EQ active with blend and volume control with a bypass and passive volume, blend and tone controls? Do you have to add anything or just change some wires around?

In order to have a 3 band active preamp, one needs a preamp. If there's a preamp, it does what it does and if it doesn't do what you want, it never will. If you want all those passive controls as well, you're looking at a bunch of extra knobs. Why not something like a J-Retro?

I thought you could make a knob turn into a different knob in passive then active? When in active, there is a volume, blend, stacked bass and treble, and a seperate mid control, and when in passive there is volume, blend, and maybe the mid control turn into a passive tone control (stacked bass and treble nonfunctional in passive). Is that possible?

This is possible with a stacked pot, like the kind they use for blend. But if you go this, it has to be the right value for the preamp, which might be hard to come by. What you could do with that preamp is put in a stacked concentric pot, so you just have one knob for passive, and the rest for regular active EQ. The volume would have to be the pull switch. This will be a complicated project to say the least.

This is possible with a stacked pot, like the kind they use for blend. But if you go this, it has to be the right value for the preamp, which might be hard to come by. What you could do with that preamp is put in a stacked concentric pot, so you just have one knob for passive, and the rest for regular active EQ. The volume would have to be the pull switch. This will be a complicated project to say the least.

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The J-Retro, even when flat, still adds its own imprint to the sound -- the OBP-3 does not. Plus, the frequency centres are very different, and to my knowledge, can't you only boost the bass on a J-Retro? Also, aren't J-Retros FAR more expensive than the OBP-3's "modest" list price of $170 USD?

PS: I'd love a Jazz with a J-Retro...:: Oh well. At the moment, I've got a Samick PJ with the OBP-3 and the preamp blows my mind.

One thing also about any preamp, is there is still some coloration. No matter what. Now, if you are an absolute tone snob, you could isolate the two circuits completely by switching before the circuitry. If not, there would be a loading effect by the other electronics, and still could be if there electronics were not isolated at the jack as well.

One thing also about any preamp, is there is still some coloration. No matter what. Now, if you are an absolute tone snob, you could isolate the two circuits completely by switching before the circuitry. If not, there would be a loading effect by the other electronics, and still could be if there electronics were not isolated at the jack as well.

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While this is true, that there is *some* colouration, the impact from the OBP-3 when flat is completely negligible as anything more than a volume boost.

To prevent further nitpickery, what I was trying to say is that the Aguilar OBP-3 is widely regarded as being transparent. Whether the preamp is switched on or not, there is no perceptible change in the tone. This is very much not true of the J-Retro.

I agree that your project will have lots of useless leftovers. Just have someone build a bass for you. There are lots of companies that build and paint bass bodies. Warmoth is only one such company. I'm sure your dream for CAR can be done by someone for a reasonable price.